Dozens of concerned citizens marched across Oakville yesterday, Jan. 7, 2024, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The march included stops at Town Hall and MP Anita Anand’s downtown Oakville office, where a list of demands were left for both Mayor Rob Burton and Anand respectively.
The rally was a three-part event; it first started at Town Hall during Mayor Rob Burton’s New Year’s Levee. Though the rally attendees could not reach the mayor or Anita Anand directly, they left letters explaining why they wanted to support a ceasefire in Gaza and requested an in-person meeting to discuss more.
Their list of demands can be seen here:
The second part of the event was the actual rally which was held at 3:00 p.m. in Centennial Square in Oakville.
The event organizer, Mervyn Russell, says they had between 65-70 people present in addition to speakers Wael Ghuneim and Sabrina Salhia.
Ghuneim is the president of the Palestinian Association of Hamilton and Salhia is a Palestinian-Danish Canadian who is an advocate for peace and environmental justice.
Russell opened with a speech, saying, "The organizers of this rally are saying: ‘Enough is enough’ What is happening to the people of Gaza is probably genocide or, even more certainly, crimes against humanity, the two most serious crimes in the world."
"We can be pleased that Canada voted, at the United Nations, at last, for a ‘sustainable Ceasefire,’" he continued later in the speech. "We must build on that decision, and demand that Canada go from words to action by devoting its influence and diplomacy to making a mutual, immediate permanent ceasefire a reality."
Russell’s speech ended with the following declaration: "We are gathered here today because we believe that human rights and international law apply to Palestinians as much to any other people and that, therefore, the ever-increasing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza must be stopped. What do we want? Ceasefire now!!"
Executive Director of Oakville Galleries, Séamus Kealy, was in attendance and commented on the initiative saying, "I had attended rallies in Toronto until now and only found out about the Oakville rally by chance. We marched in downtown Oakville and ended at MP Anita Anand's office where we presented a collective call for an immediate, mutual ceasefire and other demands."
"This call is also being sent to MP Pam Damoff, MP Karina Gould, MP Melanie Joly, and PM Justin Trudeau with emails sent to follow up on these demands." Kealy continued. "I feel we must not lose hope and keep the pressure going until change happens."
The event ended at Anand’s Oakville office. Russell says that they forewarned Anand that they would be coming so she arranged for staff to be present for them.
Russell says that two staff members brought them in for a discussion; "We were particularly concerned about pressing them to help get us a face-to-face meeting with Anita during the present parliamentary recess," Russell said.
"Several municipalities have passed motions of support for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages," Russell continued. "This puts pressure on them to in turn put pressure on the government to start not only just saying they want a ceasefire but taking the actions that will make a ceasefire more likely."
"With Anita and Pam, we're just saying that this is what we want to happen and that there’s been a demonstration to support this."